Thermal transfer laminates are used in automotive interiors to provide instructional and/or warning labels on seat belts, visors, dashboards, and the like. A typical construction for these laminates is illustrated in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 1, thermal transfer laminate 10 has a paper carrier 12 and a release coating 14 adhered to one side of the paper carrier 12. Ink or graphics layer 16 is adhered to the release coating 14 and heat-activatable adhesive layer 18 is adhered to graphics layer 16. The laminate 10 is placed on substrate 20 (e.g., seat belt, visor, etc.) with the adhesive layer 18 in contact with the substrate 20. Heat and pressure are applied to the laminate 10 through the paper carrier 12 to heat seal the laminate 10 to the substrate 20. The paper carrier 12 is then removed from the heat-sealed laminate. The release coating 14 separate with the paper carrier 12. The ink or graphics layer 16 and adhesive layer 18 remain adhered to the substrate 20.
These thermal transfer laminates have a number of disadvantages. These include the fact that the ink or graphics layer 16 cannot be seen through the paper carrier 12 during the application of laminate 10 to the substrate 20. This can result in an imprecise placement of the ink or graphics layer 16 on the substrate 20. The ink or graphics layer 16 as applied to the substrate 20 tends to conform to the surface contours of the substrate 20 and when the surface is not smooth, (e.g., when the substrate 20 is a foam-backed polyester automotive interior material) the pictorial design and/or print message provided by the ink or graphics layer often appears to be fuzzy or out of focus. Once applied to the substrate 20, the ink or graphics layer 16 tends to have poor chemical resistance and durability (e.g., poor abrasion resistance) characteristics, and poor opacity. These problems are overcome by the inventive thermal transfer laminates.